Beaders - A Matter of Respect and Doing The Right Thing

I haven't done any blog articles for a while now, with some real life issues happening and the summer months I didn't get the chance, but now an issue has come to my attention that has actually spurred me into blogging mode. Designers of bead patterns in particular will know what I am speaking about, but anyone that designs any type of patterns will understand this issue very well. Among the Designers in the beading community there has always been a sort of Code of Ethics in place, silent as it maybe its always been there. Its always been a matter of respect for each other designs, the time and effort that goes into doing those designs and the respecting of the License Agreement that each Designer has in place for their own particular designs. We have the utmost respect for any and all Designers. The License Agreement has always varied from one Designer to another, its very individual and put in place for many reasons but among Designers no matter what they thought of anyone's License Agreement they always have respected it to the fullest. Its a matter of respect and doing the right thing by each other even if we didn't agree with the Terms or even liked the Designer of those Terms its always been an unwritten rule. As Designers we all know its unethical to copy somebody's work without their permission, to claim somebody else's designs as your own, to distribute any of those designs, or to go against the License Agreement that each Designer has in place or knowingly purchase patterns from somebody that you know are going against the License Agreement of a Designer. So my question is why is this happening? Its a lot of hard work to come up with designs and ideas for patterns, to put them together, to sell them, to put together a website and maintain it, not to mention the cost of all of this. Nobody has any idea how hard it can be unless you have actually sat down and done it yourself. We do it because we have a love for the craft and crafting itself, we love to design bead patterns and we actually bead them to see how they come out and how we can improve on them and make them the best we possibly can. So when you see your designs being sold elsewhere, which is a direct violation of the License Agreement not to mention a Copyright Infringement and being bought by individuals that should know better, then this subject of at least respect for each other in the beading community should be revisited. For every pattern that is sold this way its taking money away from the Designer. As Designers we all know this for a fact. You might sit back and say oh what's a pattern or 2 here and there. Well from our experience one pattern shared or copied and sold as ours have been turned into hundreds and yes I said hundreds, so multiply 100 times the cost of each pattern and see for yourself what is being lost here by doing this. This is where the respect for one another in the beading community as Designers comes into play. If you see a fellow Designers patterns or ideas being sold on mediums like eBay or overnight setup websites then at least have a bit of respect for the Designer and the craft and do the right thing let them know about it. The title of Designer is a lot more than a name, its a love of a craft, its the respect of others with the same title, its a support system when things like this happen. How disturbing it is to me to have someone stick the title of Designer to the front of their name and not live up to that title or show some decency or respect to another Designer. All opinions expressed here are my own. If anyone would like to comment on this article please write to me at janATbeadshak.net Please replace the AT with @ this helps us cut down on all the spam emails we get! ========================================= *¨♥ Bead A Memory With Us ♥¨*:·. .·:*¨♥ Jenny and Jan ♥¨*:·. "We are the original home of the fun and original beaded banner patterns and more! All patterns that you see on our blog and Bead Shak site has been designed by Jenny" We have a little bit of everything, for everyone of all ages and experience levels! ====================================== Please note: Nothing on this blog is for download unless prior permission as been given. All Bead Shak images are copyrighted to us! Thanks for respecting this! Please read our: License Agreement ======================================